Posted on: 26/01/12
e-skills UK has issued a revised version of the Women in IT and Telecoms Workforce Research Note with the latest figures showing no improvement in the proportion of women working in the sector or studying for a sector related qualification, i.e.
- The proportion of women IT & Telecoms professionals has fallen by one percentage point to 17% since 2008
- Females now (2010 data) account for 19% of qualifiers from Computer Science / IT related courses, two percentage points lower than in 2008
- Females now (2011 data) account for 8% of those taking Computing A-Level, one percentage point lower than in 2008
e-skills UK aims to change girls' perception of IT and increase the number of girls in IT-related jobs. We have been running a number of initiatives with some promising results, including:
- Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G) - 84% of the girls on our CC4G after-school clubs for 10-14 year olds say they’re more likely to consider further education or a career in technology. That’s 105,000 girls. Find out more about the CC4G programme and how you could help a school.
- BigAmbition and Bring IT On careers websites - 73% of registered users on our BigAmbition England website are girls. The site is aimed at teenage students and features profiles of over 60 companies. We've also launched BigAmbition Scotland and BigAmbition Wales, as well as Bring IT On for Northern Ireland. Find out more about BigAmbition and Bring IT On.
- Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) degree - Our ITMB degree, offered by 14 UK universities, has more than double the national average of girls enrolled on other IT-related degrees. Find out more about the ITMB degree.
We are now also working on our Behind the Screen project - a partnership of employers right across the economy, which aims to develop a brand new academic IT curriculum, including rigorously assessed GCSEs and A-levels. The intention is to create qualifications that students find stimulating, and that are at the same time highly regarded by universities and employers. Find out more about Behind the Screen.
For a downloadable copy of the Women in IT and Telecoms Workforce Research Note, go to www.e-skills.com/researchnotes.
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